Strategic planning exercises on campus usually involve multiple constituencies, take place during prosperous times, and result in plans for allocating resources for innovative new programs. However, as three presidents explained during a Presidents Institute session, some successful plans can also take place under duress, with limited resources, and in brief time periods.

Stephen McDonald, president of Lebanon Valley College (PA), Wendy Libby, president of Stephens College (MO), and Wayne Powell, president of Lenior-Rhyne College (NC), described recent strategic planning experiences that resulted in tangible, dramatic improvements at their institutions.

A long-brewing financial crisis at Stephens that Libby discovered upon her arrival as the new president forced her into action on a strategic plan undertaken with quick, focused collaboration of key constituents in a crisis environment. As a result, she now says, “I’m still here, which in itself is surprising.” Her college renewed its mission of providing education for students in design and fashion, the performing arts, equestrian science, and creative writing—specialties that had established the institution’s niche decades ago. “We had gotten away from what we were best at,” she explained. Stephens received extensive local publicity for its publicly transparent planning efforts. The college has now grown from 439 to 650 undergraduate students and reopened one of its previously empty residence halls, with two more empty residence halls scheduled to open in the fall. After having to lay off nearly one-third of the faculty during the restructuring, Libby said the college is now starting to hire faculty members again.

Lenoir-Rhyne’s resurgence was also the result of crisis-driven planning. Following a series of resignations, a death, and budget misadventures, the college brought in a new administration that raised questions about the institution’s ability to meet its financial obligations. Trustees, faced with dire consequences, empowered Powell to reorganize contracts, freeze hiring, eliminate 35 staff positions, and cut budgets. Financial exigencies forced him to plan abruptly and without the deliberative, collegial debates that underlie most long-range planning efforts. “We had one month to make our plans and put them into effect,” Powell said, adding, “I thought I’d be run out of town.” On the contrary, the college now enjoys a $1.6 million surplus, recently completed an $8 million capital campaign, and has increased enrollment by 250 students. 

McDonald did not face a crisis when he began discussing a strategic plan at Lebanon Valley. His main question to constituents was whether the college should increase enrollment from 1,600 to 1,700 students by 2012. The unique planning process was built around a board game that involved faculty, administrators, students, trustees, and community friends. McDonald led what he describes as “an educational enterprise where we all learned a lot.” If, for example, the constituents wanted to increase enrollment, they also would need to plan for a residence hall to house the additional students, a renovated student center to accommodate the additional services that would be needed, and enhanced recruiting efforts for new programs to attract the students. “We all discovered that increasing enrollment, which we decided made sense, actually meant renovating our student center now instead of five years down the road, as I had thought initially.”

Each of the presidents advocated having a personal support structure throughout this process—particularly to help during difficult times. They recommended engaging outside facilitators or experienced advisors who had few other attachments to the institution. One president advised, “Have your own personal board of directors comprised of professional colleagues with similar experiences and no stake in the result.”